Shocking news. I guess he was one of those people that I never thought would die, just disappear off into the stars. Perhaps the best of the bunch of musician-turned-actors of that era too, despite Mick Jagger giving him a run for his money. Just The Man Who Fell To Earth would cement his place in the cinematic landscape ("Don't be suspicious"), but I also love his supporting role in The Hunger too.

And what about all those films over the years that his music has appeared on, either in the film itself or over the end credits (I still remember that period in the mid 90s to early 2000s when it seemed he was singing over the end credits of every significant film: Se7en, Lost Highway, even Memento and Dogville/Manderlay!). Though I mostly keep thinking of the use of Heroes that opens Radio On.

EDIT: I've just been reminded of my introduction to Bowie's music, and mortality. For some reason my teacher at primary school in Cornwall got our entire class to sit and listen to Space Oddity all the way through, whilst following the lyrics on the page! Imagine a class of 7 or 8 year olds in the mid 1980s listening to that and being asked to ponder the nature of existential death as Major Tom drifts away into the blackness of space, seemingly happily! It was a traumatic (I still remember choking back tears at the time) but an amazing experience, and one I've always treasured.

Last edited by colinr0380 on Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:38 pm, edited 4 times in total.

I've spent a lot of time these two or three months listening to his discography in anticipation of Blackstar, and I've continually marvelled how one man could possibly have such genius to make the albums he's made. He went on, although it would have been easy to stop and enjoy the success he had, yet he was pushing forward. Until the very end. So much of Blackstar resonates more deeply because of this.

It was always a nice thought, knowing that whatever I was doing, somewhere in the world in that very moment David Bowie was going on about his life, doing whatever he was doing, probably using that amazing talent of his to make new music. It was fun thinking he might be in the studio that very moment and I just had no clue. Or enjoying a cup of coffee. But no more.

I've had The Man Who Fell to Earth and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence on Blu for a while. Somehow didn't get around to watch them, but I will now.

I've spent a lot of time these two or three months listening to his discography in anticipation of Blackstar, and I've continually marvelled how one man could possibly have such genius to make the albums he's made. He went on, although it would have been easy to stop and enjoy the success he had, yet he was pushing forward. Until the very end. So much of Blackstar resonates more deeply because of this.

It was always a nice thought, knowing that whatever I was doing, somewhere in the world in that very moment David Bowie was going on about his life, doing whatever he was doing, probably using that amazing talent of his to make new music. It was fun thinking he might be in the studio that very moment and I just had no clue. Or enjoying a cup of coffee. But no more.

I've had The Man Who Fell to Earth and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence on Blu for a while. Somehow didn't get around to watch them, but I will now.

That's the remarkable thing, isn't it? With all the great work he did, he had every right to just rest on his laurels like almost every star of his generation ultimately, but he kept striving and pushing until the end. His loss is sad and shocking, but he's left us with a tremendous legacy and back catalogue. I'm too young to have been around when he first broke through, he had a seismic influence on his times, when what he represented was new and strange, though his best music still somehow sounds futuristic. I'm too young to have been in that particular early 1970s cultural moment, but Robert Forster of the Go-Betweens articulated it very eloquently around the time the David Bowie Is exhibition (which I was privileged enough to see, and had an amazing collection of costumes, handwritten lyrics, and other memorabilia, though the timing of it has a different feel now) came to Melbourne last year:

Beyond that, I think Bowie's own modest words (promoting Scary Monsters) nicely sum up what he was trying to do:

Quote:

There are an awful lot of mistakes on that album that I went with, rather than cut them out. One tries as much as possible to put oneself on the line artistically. But after the Dadaists, who pronounced that art is dead…Once you’ve said art is dead, it’s very hard to get more radical than that. Since 1924 art’s been dead, so what the hell can we do with it from there on? One tries to at least keep readdressing the thing…

To colinr0380's point about his music in movies, my favorite would probably be in The Life Aquatic, when Steve Zissou's smoking a joint on the Belafonte while "Life on Mars?", a song I wasn't really familiar with came blasting out. It's become my favorite of his since.

Shocking news. I guess he was one of those people that I never thought would die, just disappear off into the stars.

Given the album was just released it at least feels that way which may be for the best. Generally I don't like posting in this thread, but Bowie is basically second only to The Beatles in terms of far reaching figures whose career I could set my life to.

To colinr0380's point about his music in movies, my favorite would probably be in The Life Aquatic, when Steve Zissou's smoking a joint on the Belafonte while "Life on Mars?", a song I wasn't really familiar with came blasting out. It's become my favorite of his since.

. Breaking the Waves got there first.I think my favorite has to be Carax's Bad Blood.

I remember when I saw the news of Bowie's return and thought it looked really weird and something I was not at all interested in (I was still 15 and relatively artistically illiterate). 3 years and 23 albums later (still haven't listened to Tin Machine II and Buddha) and I'm almost crying. Rest in peace you beautiful rebel.

Last edited by Newsnayr on Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

By the way I'd also highly recommend listening to the commentary track on The Man Who Fell To Earth. Buck Henry is recorded separately but Nicolas Roeg and Bowie are recorded together and have a fascinating in depth conversation on the themes of the film. My favourite part has to be at the 40 minute mark when the multiple televisions start showing up in Mary-Lou's apartment (before we get to the wall of them later on), which leads to this amused reminiscence by Bowie, something that I always enjoy remembering especially for pointing up the danger of getting too obsessed over something like Criterion spine numbers than the actual content of the films themselves!:

David Bowie wrote:

I remember that I came to the set the first time with between three and four hundred books because I didn't have a permanent place because I was on the road such a lot, so I used to take my, at that time, entire library with me! And I remember sitting in a very stoned state in the living room in the hotel and Nic and Candy came in to talk to me. And I was rushing from one book to another - from the complete works of Francis Bacon (the section on I think it was the New Atlantis, the description of the recording studio), to some tome on Israel Regardie or something like that. [Laughs] I was just reading paragraph after paragraph and Nic said at the end, he said "Your problem is David, you don't read enough!"

I was so insulted! I didn't know it was a joke! That pretty much shows where I was at! [Laughs] I had absolutely no idea that he was taking the rise! Somebody else pointed it out later: (whispers) "It's a joke, David!"

"What did he mean that I don't read enough?! Look, I've got three hundred books! Some of them first editions!"

And what about all those films over the years that his music has appeared on, either in the film itself or over the end credits (I still remember that period in the mid 90s to early 2000s when it seemed he was singing over the end credits of every significant film: Se7en, Lost Highway, even Memento and Dogville/Manderlay!).

This. Also, I sort of wish that Lost Highway was just the opening credits playing on a loop for 2 hours.

My, Randall Maysin's, acquaintance with David Bowie, is pretty slight. I liked some of what little of his music I've heard over the years, but a lot of it was just a pleasant whatever experience for me. But he was just...so cool. I love that hilarious music video he did with Mick Jagger, Dancing in the Streets, that Family Guy called the 'gayest thing anyones ever seen'. Yes I'm the idiot who's referencing that in this thread. He seems bemused by Jagger's usual repulsive antics, and his dance moves and the little hand movements he makes...so casually dazzling. First Vilmy Zsigmond, who _was_ my favorite living cinematographer, and now this elegant and not very old gentleman. Sad week for me.

By the way I'd also highly recommend listening to the commentary track on The Man Who Fell To Earth. Buck Henry is recorded separately but Nicolas Roeg and Bowie are recorded together and have a fascinating in depth conversation on the themes of the film. My favourite part has to be at the 40 minute mark when the multiple televisions start showing up in Mary-Lou's apartment (before we get to the wall of them later on), which leads to this amused reminiscence by Bowie, something that I always enjoy remembering especially for pointing up the danger of getting too obsessed over something like Criterion spine numbers than the actual content of the films themselves!:

David Bowie wrote:

I remember that I came to the set the first time with between three and four hundred books because I didn't have a permanent place because I was on the road such a lot, so I used to take my, at that time, entire library with me! And I remember sitting in a very stoned state in the living room in the hotel and Nic and Candy came in to talk to me. And I was rushing from one book to another - from the complete works of Francis Bacon (the section on I think it was the New Atlantis, the description of the recording studio), to some tome on Israel Regardie or something like that. [Laughs] I was just reading paragraph after paragraph and Nic said at the end, he said "Your problem is David, you don't read enough!"

I was so insulted! I didn't know it was a joke! That pretty much shows where I was at! [Laughs] I had absolutely no idea that he was taking the rise! Somebody else pointed it out later: (whispers) "It's a joke, David!"

"What did he mean that I don't read enough?! Look, I've got three hundred books! Some of them first editions!"

I always thought The Man Who Fell To Earth was a match for his albums. A terrific film, and one I watched countless times on video. His film career petered out really, but Baal, the Brecht play he did for the BBC, and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence are fine pieces. Obviously the music was immense; I still think the run from Space Oddity to Scary Monsters (plus the two Iggy albums, The Idiot and Lust For Life) is without equal in rock music. An amazing talent.